Bill Gates recently stepped down from Microsoft to pursue philanthropic work through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. But is he really going to help people with his riches? Or is he just using his money to push his own capitalist, pro-business ideology on the world? After reading Incite!’s latest book, you’ll recognize the later is true, not only of Bill, but of the vast majority of “philanthropic” foundations.

The Revolution Will Not be Funded is a collection of seventeen persuasive essays by activists, academics, and practitioners working in the non-profit sector. Its authors set out to explain the rise of the non-profit industrial complex (“NPIC” as they call it), its effects on social change efforts, and how to rethink non-profit institutions with at times weak, but altogether convincing, arguments and personal experiences. Read more

Indian car company Tata is backing an air powered car called the OneCAT. This five-seater holds compressed air in carbon-fiber tanks that can be filled in just three minutes.

According to the BBC, “For long journeys the compressed air driving the pistons can be boosted by a fuel burner which heats the air so it expands and increases the pressure on the pistons. The burner will use all kinds of liquid fuel.” The OneCAT will use about 120 mpg on longer trips.

The builders assure us not to worry about the air tanks exploding during an accident. “There’s no issue with safety–if the air-car crashes the air tanks won’t shatter–they will split with a very loud bang. ‘The biggest risk is to the ears.'”

President Bush unveiled his proposed $3 trillion budget for 2009 on February 4th in Washington. The budget, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, “proposes increased funding for the Department of Defense [by $35 billion to $515 billion for core programs–NOT including war costs], cuts to health care programs, and about $2.4 billion less for domestic discretionary programs other than Homeland Security.”

Specific program cuts include:

$1.3 billion less than is needed to fund existing Section 8 Housing Vouchers
$315 million from Public Housing funding
$659 million from Community Development Block Grants
$77 million from Housing for People with Disabilities
Elimination of the Community Services Block Grant–$654 million
The budget also proposes to cut Medicaid by $18 billion over 5 years.

The budget is likely to reach a record deficit of over $413 billion after including all the war funding–$70 billion requested, but will likely be much higher since he requested $200 billion this year.